Brazil national football team
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The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international Association football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation. They are the reigning South American champions, successfully defending their title in the 2007 Copa América. Brazil are also the current holders of the FIFA Confederations Cup after managing to repeat as winners of the competition in the 2009 edition of said tournament. Brazil is the most successful national football team in the history of the World Cup, with five championships. They are also the most successful team in the FIFA Confederations Cup with three titles. Brazil, along with Argentina, are the only teams to win a World Cup outside their continental zone and the Verde-Amarela is the only team to have won the championship in four different continents; once in Europe (1958 Sweden), once in
South America (1962 Chile), twice in North America (1970 Mexico and 1994 USA) and once in Asia (2002 S. Korea-Japan). A common quip about football is: "Os ingleses o inventaram, os brasileiros o aperfeiçoaram" ("The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it"). Currently ranked first by FIFA, Brazil is consistently considered the strongest football nation in the world, and has also been marked as one of the most competitive teams of each decade since the 1960s. Brazil is the only national team to have played in every World Cup. The first match of the Brazil national football team ever is generally believed to be a 1914 match between a Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo select team and the English club Exeter City, held in Fluminense's stadium. Brazil won 2–0 with goals by Oswaldo Gomes and Osman, whilst others claim a 3–3 draw. In contrast to its future success, the national team's early appearances were far from brilliant, partly due to an internal strife within Brazilian football associations over professionalism, which rendered the Brazilian Football Confederation unable to field full-strength teams. In particular, disputes between the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro state football federations meant that the team would not be composed of players coming from either of the federations. In both the
History
Early history (1914–1957)